It’s no real secret that I’m a Mac guy, although I try not to be biased. I use just about everything and move back and forth between Macs and PCs with little fuss. I only switched over to the iPhone a few years ago and was the last person in my house to cave in on an iPad. But my personal preference is toward Macs, so when I invest in equipment, I tend to stick with Apple. So when I was sent a Toshiba Satellite U925t convertible Ultrabook to play with a few weeks ago, I made the most of the experience to compare what it would be like to move from my Apple equivalent — a MacBook Air plus an iPad — to the Windows 8 side.

Windows has had an interesting path to where they are today. This is an operating system that has been around a long time, in computer and technology age – Windows has got to be really, really old. From my first experience with Windows being 3.1, to the failures of Vista and ME, the operating system that inundates many of our lives took a long time to turn the corner into a vibrant, easy to use and user friendly operating system. With Windows 7 we saw glimpses of what this OS would become; with Windows 8 we have a better picture of an operating system that Microsoft is banking on to bring them closer to dominating all markets. Continue Reading “Windows 8 Brings a Fresh Look to an Old OS” »

Here at GeekDad, we still hold board games in high regard. They are a great way to bring family and friends together without the need for anyone to be inundated in technology. These days though, it seems people would rather plant imaginary farms on Facebook, relying on social interactions rather than in-person ones. This is where the new game Silo from Red Raider Studios hopes to fit in, bridging the gap between board game and social interaction.

So what is Silo and why should you care? Aren’t there enough games out there in app world?

First off, Silo is rife with sentimental value. Created by Marc Girolimetti, Silo is one of many games that was hand built in the Girolimetti household growing up. Now well into his third decade of life, Marc is finally attempting to complete his parents’ dream of bringing their board games to marketability – by making Silo into an app.

Says Marc, “The funny thing about how this game came about. We used to call it ‘Tumble Rumble’ because the original version had a top loaded rolling tower you throw the dice down and they land in the tray. That came about because my step-dad hated the fact that the dice would fly off the board onto the floor, so he went out to his workshop and created the rolling tower.”

Team members from Chaotic Moon Labs have devoted a chunk of their office hours recently to roaming the streets of Austin on a longboard. They are currently skating around the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, likely turning heads as they do. Their board happens to be an electric one, using a Samsung tablet, phidgets, and Microsoft’s Kinect to steer the motorized ride with gestures and voice commands.

The Board of Awesomeness — or “Project Sk8″ — can reach a top speed of 32 mph. After getting Kinect’s attention with some initial gestures and establishing a connection with the device, the driver pushes his hands forward (speed up) or pulls them back (slow down) to switch between three speeds, or to stop the board completely. Commercial power boards, like those built by TAMI or E-Glide, require the rider to use a wireless or tethered hand control.